


Uncut all ties

by Loredib (Loredi)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Soul Bond, Warning: Kate Argent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-03
Updated: 2015-02-03
Packaged: 2018-03-10 06:37:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3280400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loredi/pseuds/Loredib
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The fire was avoided and the Hale family was alive, but Kate Argent did something unforgivable to Derek’s soul.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Uncut all ties

 

As Derek lay on the hospital bed, holding his mother’s hand while the doctor explained what had happened to him, he could not help but feel relief. He honestly thought the punishment was due, and if that was the price he had to pay for his family to live, it was a small one, if any.

 

His mother did not feel the same. She started sobbing as soon as the doctor left.

 

“Oh, my baby,” she wept. Then, after a while, she straightened her back. “We’ll get a second opinion. I promise we’ll do everything. We’ll find a cure”

 

“It’s ok, mom,” he said.

 

He felt at peace with himself.

 

* * * * *

 

The fourth doctor they visited was in Boston, the place to go for soul specialists. Derek had resigned to his fate almost since the moment he had been diagnosed the first time, but his mother had not, and probably would never do it.

 

_You don’t understand it, because you have not lived it. You have to live it. When you are a mother were like me, and you have your soulmate with you, you just know you have to fight for your children’s right to find them too._

 

Derek sighed in the silence of the doctor’s office, while Talia Hale was pacing. He felt so tired he closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was in his mother’s arms and the doctor was walking to his seat. His mother tensed.

 

“Doctor…?”

 

That was it for Derek. Four doctors was a lot for him. He would refuse to go to another one, so this result was going to be it and his mother had to accept it.

 

“I think there is hope,” said the man.

 

Derek’s world stopped.

 

* * * * *

 

Everyone knew you could not fall in love with someone who was not your soulmate. You could have a good relationship, and even love them, but not be in love with them. You could only give your whole being to the person who would reciprocate. That was the reason Kate Argent had to manipulate things so that Derek fell for her and let her try to kill his family.

 

It did not work as she expected. The Hale family lived but, after the fact, they found out something was really wrong with Derek. And as he was not the first teenage victim, he suffered the consequences of a perfected technique.

 

“Derek’s soul was tampered with,” explained the first doctor. “He was forced to love this woman as one would a soulmate. He trusted her, and trusted that her decisions were for their mutual benefit…”

 

“We know the results,” interrupted his mother. “But him..? Inside…? What did that woman do to my baby?”

 

“It might be easier to understand with a metaphor, like the red thread one, have you heard of it? It’s said that soulmates are linked by an invisible red thread, which can extend and twist but will always hold them together. With time, the thread will guide the mates to the same place and time, and they will go from there. Well, what was done to Derek… it’s as if his red thread had been cut. He has lost all capacity to find his soulmate.”

 

* * * * *

 

“There are traces of some chemicals that could eventually lead to a soulbound,” said the fourth doctor.

 

His mother gasped.

 

“So does that mean…?”

 

“Let’s not rush into conclusions,” he interjected. “Derek’s case is unique. The other patients who were… forced into a similar condition are long dead, along with their families. All we can do is to hypothesize. The traces could mean anything, but if after this time they are there, it might mean Derek could, eventually, form a bond.”

 

She jumped in her seat. Derek only gaped at the doctor.

 

“So he will be able to…?”

 

“Madam, I’m not saying Derek will have the same chances as everyone else. At this point, all I can say is it might as well depend on luck. The traces are not strong enough for him to be able to look for his soulmate, but if he were to meet them, he might be able to recognize them, and eventually form a bond. However, the possibilities are not above 20%, to be honest with you.”

 

* * * * *

 

Twenty percent was more than zero percent, so his mother started to hope for his future. He did not. He knew he deserved what was happening to him, because he had let Kate sway him and he had almost provoked the death of everyone he loved. He knew no person in the world deserved to get a traitor and a danger like him as a soulmate.

 

Fortunately, with his…  _problem_  he was not going to be able to look for them, so that was it. He was not looking, he was not finding. He was staying at home and taking care of his family until the end of his days.

 

Derek Hale, aged sixteen, hunched and prepared for the rest of his life.

 

As the years passed, his conviction strengthened.

 

* * * * *

 

“This is private property,” he shouted at the trespassers.

 

He had been smelling them around Hale property for a long time, but he had finally caught them.

 

Both intruders jumped at the sound of his voice and looked at him with innocent, young, big eyes. One of them seemed kind of purple.

 

“Sorry, dude, but Scott here lost his inhaler, and he literally cannot live without it, so he’s kind of having a hard time breathing,” spoke the other, very fast.

 

Derek frowned.

 

“But we’ll go!” the boy cried, raising up his hands as if giving up. “He’s lost thousands of them, anyway, we can just like… save for a month and buy another, no biggie, air is overrated anyway. Come on, Scottie.”

 

He said, again in one breath, while taking his friend by the shoulders and directing him to the opposite direction.

 

“Wait,” called Derek, and tossed the damn thing at them.

 

He had been using it to trace the scent of the intruders, but he got it was important for the kid to have it in order not to turn even more purple.

 

The kid with asthma caught the inhaler and immediately took a dose. The other one just looked at Derek and gave him a big, toothy smile.

 

“Thanks, dude. We owe you big time.”

 

* * * * *

 

Derek rolled his eyes.

 

“I’m not going to another doctor appointment. It’s a waste of time, it’s been almost ten years, mom!”

 

“And science has progressed a lot since then!” she rebutted.  “We have to keep going if we want you to have your soulmate for the rest of your life.”

 

Derek breathed deeply and decided to finally confront his mother.

 

“Mom,” he started. “I am an adult now. Don’t you think it’s time for me to make that decision?”

 

“Derek…”

 

“And my decision is not to find them.”

 

He left her mother speechless, but felt strangely satisfied.

 

* * * * *

 

“You’re trespassing again.”

 

The lanky kid jumped on his place and squeaked.

 

“Dude! You’re seriously ninja.”

 

“And you’re seriously trespassing.”

 

The kid rolled his eyes.

 

“Dude, I know. In fact I know, like, every law in the county. Whatever, I only wanted to thank you for what you did for Scottie.”

 

Derek frowned. After a long silence, he reckoned he should have said “you’re welcome”, but by then it would have been awkward.

 

The kid kicked dirt with the point of his snickers for another awkward minute.

 

“Sooo, hey, I’m Stiles.”

 

After a couple of seconds, Derek said, “ok,” and blinked.

 

Stiles grimaced.

 

“Yeah, this is awkward. See you around?”

 

“Ok,” repeated Derek.

 

 * * * * *

 

“Stiles”, whatever that meant, came back, sometimes with that Scott boy tagging along, sometimes alone. Once with a black stray dog he had found wandering the preserve.

 

“I’ll call him something awesome, like Gandalf the Black, or Batman, or Miguel, and maybe bring him to Deaton —that’s Scott’s boss, the vet— ‘cause dad would shoot me twice if he found a dog in the house. It’s like, he doesn’t believe I can take care of one, but I totally can!”

 

By that time, Derek knew he could do nothing but listen. Stiles would not freak out about silence anymore. Threats did not work either. Leaving, for some reason, did not occur to him.

 

“I mean, I don’t really have any space, and there’s always shit laying around, and I don’t have any money to buy stuff, but I could totally kick ass at having a dog if I could…”

 

“You could leave it here.”

 

“You’d take care of little Gandalf Batman Miguel?” he asked hopefully, playing with the dog’s ears.

 

“I wouldn’t starve it.”

 

Stiles smiled.

 

“That’s all us free souls need, don’t we, Miguel?” he asked in a stupid voice.

 

Derek snorted.

 

“Don’t even start. I’m not adopting  _you._ ”

 

Stiles pouted.

 

* * * * *

 

Derek would not admit he sometimes ran to find him.

 

“Do you sometimes feel… weird?” asked Stiles, as soon as he felt Derek’s presence looming on him. It was already dark in the preserve.

 

“Don’t you sometimes feel you should be home?”

 

Stiles smiled with all his teeth.

 

“Naw, man. Home’s boring. There’s no one there and the PSP, like, broke down on me.”

 

“Where’s your father?”

 

“Working,” he said, moving one shoulder as if shrugging, but not completely managing it.

 

After a moment of silence, while Derek only watched Stiles breathe, the boy spoke again. “Sooo, as I was saying, weird stuff, let’s talk about it.”

 

“When do you ever _not_ talk about weird stuff?” deadpanned Derek.

 

Stiles guffawed.

 

“Point.” 

 

* * * * *

 

Stiles was rolling on the floor with Miguel, the dog who had a real and mature name no one used, because Miguel had stuck.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“Giving our child love, I know you only give him food, and he has other needs,” Stiles answered, looking at him from the floor.

 

“Love,” spat Derek. “You think you give the dog love by rolling on dirt.”

 

Stiles half-sat. “That’s how we roll in the shire!”

 

Derek touched his nose and tried to breathe deeply.

 

* * * * *

 

On the anniversary of the fire nothing special happened. His family got together for Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July, and sometimes birthdays, but nothing on the day Kate Argent had started the fire that had almost killed them all. His older brothers were all scattered around the country, and the youngest went to school and came back home to eat, play and sleep.

 

Derek liked that they left him alone and hated that no one cared enough for the day they had almost lost everything. His mother remembered of course, but not for the right reasons.

 

“It’s been nine years since your soul—”

 

“I know, mom,” he cut her off, before leaving the house stomping.  

 

Stiles was by the river.

 

“This is not a good day for you to trespass and stick around ‘till midnight, Stiles.”

 

The smile on the teen’s face froze.

 

“Uh, sorry?”

 

“And it’s getting weird, shouldn’t you be out there, looking for your soulmate like a normal teenager or something?”

 

He might as well have slapped him.

 

“Yeah, I should, right? I’ll just go.”

 

* * * * *

 

The next time he sniffed someone it was not Stiles, but his friend. Derek rolled his eyes and went to face him, frankly done with the trespassing thing.

 

“You’re…”

 

“Don’t do that again!” shouted the teen, without preamble.

 

“What?”

 

“Don’t speak about soulmates to Stiles, ok? It’s a touchy subject.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I don’t know. And I know not to ask, so just leave it, ok? Stiles doesn’t deserve your crap. Leave him alone.”

 

Scott left Derek without waiting for an answer. Derek would have argued that it was Stiles who kept coming, who would not leave  _him_ alone.

 

* * * * *

 

He did not have to worry. Every day for months he ran the perimeter of the Hale land in the morning, in the afternoon and at night. The few human smells he could detect he could also scare away by growling or howling, but none of them were Stiles’.

 

By the end of the fourth month of absence, he had Miguel running by his side every day, for company. He had forgotten Miguel’s “real” name.

 

He also thought he had forgotten about the spastic child who had once been around. That was the day he scented him again. He was not in Hale land, but in the preserve, and he smelled acid. Miserable. Derek's heart beat a little faster and he convinced himself the kid needed help.

 

He planned on saying "hey", or something normal. 

 

He ended up standing behind Stiles, in silence. He would have stayed there all night too, had it not been for the boy, who seemed to feel his presence and turned. And screamed.

 

“Jesus Christ, you almost gave me a frikin’ heart attack!” he shrieked.

 

His face was dirty and wet with tears.

 

“Are… are you ok?”

 

Stiles deflated.

 

“What do you care?” he murmured, not looking at him in the eye.

 

“Hey,” said Derek, and put his hand on the kid’s shoulder. His hand looked big on such a skinny body.

 

Stiles breathed deeply.

 

They stood in silence for some minutes. Derek thought Stiles was getting calmer, because of his breathing and his heart, but he could not be sure. Then, in the noises of a forest at night, Stiles spoke again.

 

“Scott found his soulmate today.”

 

“Oh,” said Derek.

 

He did not ask questions. Stiles could be upset because he had thought he would be Scott’s soulmate, or because he was losing his friend, or something. He had no right to ask and upset him more.

 

“Hey, one last weird thing, dude?”

 

“Uh?”

 

“Can you hug me?”

 

 

* * * * *

 

That night Stiles told him he was going to college. Berkley. He was moving to the dorms and would be back for the breaks.

 

They said their goodbyes. Derek thought that was the end of it.

 

 

* * * * *

 

Stiles came back. He lived with his father during the breaks and spent cold winter evenings and cool summer nights running around Derek, while Miguel ironically sat by a tree.

 

Derek thought it weird, but never touched what they had. He did not ask invasive questions, only waited for Stiles to share. He never gave away too much, only stayed outside with Stiles, never invited him home and never spoke to his mother or siblings about him.

 

“…and that’s why walking under a ladder is considered bad luck,” said Stiles.

 

He was sitting by Derek’s side. Derek was resting on the grass. Miguel, as big as he was going to get, had his head on his stomach.

 

Stiles poked him.

 

“Are you listening to me?”

 

“Mhm,” answered Derek, and moved one eyelid to see Stiles rolling his eyes.

 

He was not upset, though. Derek could sense it. He must have known Derek always listened to him.

 

Derek closed his eyes again. After some priceless seconds in silence, Stiles spoke again.

 

“So, hey, do you ever like, go out?”

 

“Go out the preserve?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“I have to buy groceries, I guess?”

 

He opened his eyes to see Stiles biting his lip.

 

“Why do you…?”

 

Stiles shook his head.

 

“Nah, nothing. Wanna know why people avoid black cats?”

 

“I’m just  _dying_ to know.”

 

 

* * * * *

 

Stiles did not come back during his last summer in college. “No biggie”, as the kid would say. There were a thousand reasons why Stiles would not visit. Derek was ok with it, it was normal. People stopped seeing people all the time. Stiles could have a life all by his own. He probably had just found his soulmate and was away with them.

 

Derek could smell where the father’s house was, and one time he even went and sniffed around it, but when he realized Stiles was not there, he did not dare ask the sheriff about him.

 

One summer night he woke up sweating and screaming.

 

“Derek, baby?”

 

“What happened to Derek?”

 

“Mom? Derek’s…”

 

He ran away to the forest in pajamas, a tug in his heart guiding him.

 

He had dreamt of Stiles. In his dream, Stiles was dead. His big brown eyes were lifeless, his lean neck, broken.

 

He ran to the sheriff’s house and stayed on the roof all night, listening to the man sleep as if that could give him a clue about Stiles’ state.

 

Then he shadowed the man the next day, but he did not seem upset. He did not seem as if Stiles was  _dying._

 

* * * * *

 

Early one fall morning, he was walking around the Hale land in his beta form, Miguel trotting behind him, when he caught a hint of  _Stiles._

Miguel beat him to run. Derek transformed and barely took time put on pants before running after Miguel.

 

Stiles was coming, stomping clumsily on dry leaves while Miguel barked and ran around him. He was smiling, until he caught sight of Derek and stopped.

 

Derek slowed down until he was right in front of him. Stiles had not moved, and he seemed not to be blinking.

 

"What" growled Derek.

 

“Dude,” Stiles said, staring in awe. “Abs.”

 

Derek covered his pectorals by crossing his arms, but refused to feel intimidated by Stiles’ powerful stare. Eventually, his nervousness at seeing him got the best of him.

 

“What are you doing here? Don’t you have a stupid soulmate to go back to?”

 

Stiles glared.

 

“Well, don’t you? Asshole?” he replied. “I come back after all this time and you, what, spit on my face?”

 

Stiles was almost fuming, but for the first time in his life, Derek could not stop his mouth.

 

“You didn’t come because you didn’t want to.”

 

“I didn’t come because I didn’t want to,” Stiles repeated, leaking sarcasm.

 

Derek remained silent.

 

“Look, I can’t with this shit today. I came back to great news! The last loser teen in this god-forsaken town has found his soulmate, aged nineteen, the poor idiot! Now everyone’s got one!”

 

Derek’s heart clenched, so had Stiles…?

 

“Everyone but me, of course! In my freakin’ _twenties_ ” he yelled. “And then I come here looking for some goddamn comfort and my… you kick me when I’m down. I’m fucking done.”

 

Derek opened his mouth, but was interrupted by Miguel barking, seemingly as mad at him as Stiles.

 

“I’m fucking done,” repeated Stiles, this time sounding defeated, and turned around. Miguel sprinted after him. 

 

* * * * *

 

Derek got home to take a shower, change clothes and pretend nothing was wrong.

 

“Derek?” asked Laura, looking at him from the couch. “Where are you going?”

 

She had a judgmental eyebrow up. He knew he deserved it. It was the first time in years he cared to dress well and shave.

 

“I’m going to get my dog back,” he replied.

 

She jumped from the couch.

 

“What? Did Miguel get lost?! WAS HE KIDNAPPED?”

 

“No,” he answered. “He’s just making a statement.”

 

Laura frowned.

 

“I think I’m just going to let you go,” she said, sitting back.

 

Derek nodded.

 

* * * * *

 

He climbed the tree outside Stiles’ window for the second time, the first being the night he had spent on his roof. The difference was that this time he wanted to go inside Stiles’ room, so he squeezed through the window. Stiles was on the floor. Miguel was on top on him, with his eyes closed as he was petted.

 

“You don’t have a soulmate?” he asked.

 

Stiles stood up in one move and adopted a ridiculous karate pose. Miguel looked much more menacing, baring his fangs and growling. Derek was tempted to shut the damn dog up by growling himself, but it was not the moment.

 

“Jesus Christ, it’s you! How did you? I’m going to kick your ass out of here. I’m going to call my dad and he’s going to shoot your sorry ass and then Miguel’s going to b—”

 

“You don’t have a soulmate?” he repeated.

 

Derek was punched. So suddenly that he saw it coming but could not believe it. He was affected more by the impression than by the force. Stiles seemed so full of adrenaline that he did not complain about his fist or anything. On the contrary, he yelled.

 

“Of course I don’t have a soulmate, you asshole!”

 

Derek felt glee. Then he frowned.

 

“Why?”

 

When he looked up at Stiles, he saw the boy was actually in tears of rage.

 

“Because I don’t… because I’ve been…” he cried. “My dad had me tested. Nothing wrong with me, they said,” he babbled. “Nothing wrong! Then why do I feel—? I thought I felt it, you know? But it was not—!” by the time he stopped his garbled speech, he was sobbing.

 

Derek extended his hand and touched his shoulder in an attempt to comfort. Stiles was older this time. His hand did not seem so big on him now.

 

“Stiles?” he whispered shyly. “I don’t have a soulmate either.”

 

The boy could have pulled something at how fast he raised his head.

 

“You—you don’t?”

 

Derek shook his head, and tried to control his nerves. He was feeling… he gulped.

 

“When I was fifteen,” he explained. “Kat– someone. A woman. She tried to… tried to make me love her. She— she— broke me.”

 

 _I’m not fucking crying,_ he mentally ordered his body.But he was.

 

Stiles practically jumped on him and hugged him with all his might. He breathed deeply.

 

“Then we are…?” he whispered, as if afraid.

 

Derek clang to him in silence. He had already given his acceptance by the mere fact of being there, in Stiles’ arms.

 

“You didn’t know about my soul being…?” he asked Stiles, pointing at his heart.

 

This prompted the boy to move away and hit him on the chest.

 

“How would I know? That’s so private! And you never spoke to me! You never even told me your name!”

 

He was right. Proper introductions were never made.

 

“I’m Derek H—”

 

“Of course I know who you are, duh! I stalked you!” he cried. Then he grimaced and shut up.

 

Derek laughed, tears still in his cheeks.

 

“I stalked you a little too,” he confessed.

 

Stiles smiled at him, that beautiful, brilliant smile.

 

* * * * *

 

“Can you feel it too?” asked Stiles, as softly as he was capable.

 

Derek nodded.

 

“But only just recently. And when you didn’t come, I thought you had found someone…”

 

Stiles sighed.

 

“I had final exams for my last semester at college. And then I had a nervous breakdown.”

 

Derek gaped.

 

“But your— I watched your dad closely, he wasn’t upset, he was…”

 

“Thank god for that,” he said. “I didn’t tell him. Scott sent him messages from my phone while I was recovering in the hospital.”

 

Derek had to contain the impulse to crunch Stiles in his embrace. He had been all alone in a hospital, and Derek  _knew_ something was wrong and he hadn’t…

 

Stiles continued.

 

“I felt weird from the moment I met you. But I didn’t understand what I was feeling until Scott explained how he felt when he met  _the one_. Then I knew what I felt was… but you… you didn’t say… and it all was…”

 

“What, you thought I already had someone?” he laughed.

 

Stiles punched him.

 

“You’re this gorgeous man. You live in this big house in the forest, with tons of people. For all I knew you were part of a cult and your soulmate lived with you, I didn’t know anything and you didn’t say!”

 

Derek felt like punching something too, but instead kissed Stiles’ temple.

 

“I guess I have a lot to tell you.”

 

“And I got tons of time, dude. I’ll hear you.”

 

“Well, there’s this reason why I live in the forest with tons of people…”

 

* * * * *

 

“I brought Miguel’s shared custody schedule!” yelled Stiles as soon as he was inside the Hale house.

 

He took his shoes off and went to sit on the couch, barely avoiding to bump into three kids who ran by him. Derek appeared at the kitchen’s door, where he was cooking with his mom and, supposedly, Cora.

 

“I’m sure he would prefer to stay with you forever. The traitor.”

 

Stiles waved and grinned.

 

“You only ever give him food, it’s obvious he’d prefer me.”

 

Derek frowned, but his expression was friendly.

 

“I only ever give you food, and you seem to like it here. Miguel doesn’t, he looks miserable without you.”

 

“So do you, Der,” said Laura, passing towards the living room.

 

Derek growled at her.

 

Laura hugged Stiles and went to spread on the other couch. The young man looked smug.

 

“I sustain free souls need food and love. You might not like it, but you give me both.”

 

Derek flushed for the first time in his life.

 

Laura awwwwed.

 

“Derek gives Miguel food, you give him love. You should just live together and be done with it.”

 

Derek shied away to the kitchen, trying to avoid Laura and her meddling. To his relief, he heard Stiles laugh.

 

“Laura, not long ago Derek was convinced he wouldn’t have a mate and I was convinced I was soul-faulty. We’re not living together until we're ready. We have the rest of our lives.”

 

For the first time in his life, Derek felt strong. And complete.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! This is my first time in this fandom and I'm nervous and I might just go and hide. Thanks for reading!


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